Mini Golf: Castles (2D)

Golf games seem to be a strangely popular commodity on mobiles as of late. From realistic simulations, like Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007, to impossible mayhem like the recently reviewed Worms Crazy Golf, they come in all shapes and sizes, and cater for every taste.

So, on a scale of realistic to manic, where does Mini Golf: Castles come in? Well, somewhere in the middle.

To begin with, if you're after a realistic golf sim then you'd be best off looking elsewhere, as Mini Golf: Castles is based on that most refined of English pastimes, crazy golf. Every course has been designed in a weird and wacky shape, with boards for your ball to bounce off, sand tracks to slow it down, and even teleport pads, which move your ball from one end of the course to another! (We don't remember seeing those during our last game down the park).

The courses are generally well-designed, and each is littered with a variety of environmental hazards to get through. From gates that you have to open by rolling your ball onto a switch, to suits of armour that lift their sword for only a few seconds and so requiring a perfectly timed shot to pass by, these obstacles are both unique and varied, and demand an incredible amount of precision and persistence from the player.

Such scruples would be fine if the game were as accurate with its physics calculations as it expects you be with your shots. Unfortunately, it's not.

The game attempts to fake a 3D view by setting the action in a top-down isometric perspective. However, whilst this certainly makes the game look more attractive than it would do otherwise, it also makes lining up your shots a nightmare. Instead of being able to simply putt up, down, left, or right, you're left trying to calculate just how up-and-to-the-left your shot has to be to roll in a straight line.

You can't change your camera angle to a top down view, even to just line up the final putt, so making your ball go anywhere near the hole in one or two shots is nigh on impossible.

To make matters worse, the game doesn't even show you a preview of how your shot will rebound off a wall – a key element in any snooker game, so why not in a crazy golf game, especially one with such a confusing perspective?

Annoyingly, when you do calculate your shot's trajectory right, the game often doesn't agree, instead deciding to let your ball roll straight over the hole, or bounce off walls at an unrealistic angle. Thankfully, this doesn't happen too often, but it's sure to have you grinding your teeth in frustration when it does.

The shame of it is Mini Golf: Castles isn't completely without merit. There's a wide selection of holes to choose from, across three different courses, each with its own unique visual style, and when the game works, it works very well. Timing your shot perfectly, puting exactly the right amount of power behind it and getting a hole in one is still an achievement, and feels every bit as rewarding as it should.

The game also supports up to four players playing together on the same handset, taking it in turns to make their shots. When you're playing against people of equal uselessness to yourself, it'll certainly produce a lot of laughs.

However, ultimately we're left with another game that, like its sister product Mini Golf: Magic, is destined to the 'What if?' vaults of time. Mini Golf: Castles shows a lot of potential, so much so that it could have been a classic. But instead, thanks to elemental problems that crop up rather too often, we're left with a game that frustrates as much as it pleases.